SANS Security Essentials

I attended this class in November, 2000 (http://www.sans.org/giactc.htm) and passed my certification test in February 2001.

Wasn't all that easy, but well worth it. Of course my company paid the fees for that class. I've signed up for the November 2001 FIREWALLS, PERIMETER PROTECTION AND VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS class and with the downturn in the economy, our company has cut back on funding these types of things...however, I would like to continue on for my Certified Security Engineer from sans.org so I've footed the $2600 for this myself.
:(

not sure what you are trying to get across here.

I think agh3 is recommending the SANS class....

I attended the SANS GSEC training in San Diego October 2001.
I still have to complete the requirements for certification.

The thing that differentiates SANS from other certifiers is that it's not just a question and answer test that someone with a good memory can read a book and crank through. SANS certification requires somewhat of a "practical" component that demonstrates that you can apply the concepts to the real world.

The practical changes for every testing group, so although anyone can go and review the previous practicals it won't be relevant to their particular situation when they go to certify.